Download 2008 VHA Leadership Awards Community Benefit Award for

2008
VHA Leadership Awards
Community Benefit Award for Excellence
Describe your overall organizational community benefit strategy:
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How does community benefit fit into your organization's strategic plan?
The mission of Hospital A is to provide a ministry that enhances the health, dignity,
and wholeness of those served, through integrity, compassion, advocacy,
resourcefulness, and excellence. To effectively achieve its mission of extending its
healthcare ministry to the community it serves, Hospital A revised its strategic plan to
incorporate community benefit as a key success factor.
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What are the measurable goals of your organization's community benefit plan?
Community Benefit is one of the 7 key focus areas monitored on the system-wide
organizational dashboard, along with clinical quality, operational effectiveness,
financial performance, staff and physician engagement, and patient experience. The
dashboard provides a visual report of the Hospital’s performance against established
goals. These goals are based on the Hospital’s past performance and system overall
goals.
The Community Benefit dashboard key indicators monitored include:
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Charity Care: Defined as the amount of free or discounted health services
provided to persons who cannot afford to pay and who do not meet the
System’s criteria for financial assistance. Charity care is reported at cost and
is calculated based on a ratio of cost to charge.
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Community Health Improvement Services: Defined as the un-reimbursable
cost of providing, funding, or otherwise financially supporting educational
benefits, services, and programs for patients and the community at large:
including community health education through informational programs,
publications and outreach activities in response to community needs.
The level of involvement and support of health care professionals programs and
financial/in-kind contributions are also monitored and compiled into an annual
Community Benefit Report that is approved by the health system executive leadership
and governing board.
The primary community benefit goals identified by Hospital A include:
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Increasing access to primary care services for uninsured and underinsured
citizens within the county;
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Partnering with healthcare professional education programs to ensure a steady
stream of healthcare workers within the county;
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Increasing community awareness of factors that contribute to poor health.
What is the level of accountability for community benefit (e.g. board oversight,
tied to leadership performance reviews)?
The accountability for engagement in activities to extend the organization’s mission
to its community is vested in the Hospital President. Oversight of these activities is
the responsibility of the system Chief Executive Officer and governing board.
Hospital A’s President is accountable to the System CEO and Governing Board to
demonstrate continual progress and achievement of the community benefit goals
defined within the hospital strategic plan. His ability to lead the organization towards
achieving the defined targets is an integral component of his individual performance
evaluation.
The hospital community outreach focus and goals are cascaded throughout the
organization. Every leader and staff member within the organization is evaluated on
their contribution towards achieving the community benefit goal during their annual
performance evaluation. Special recognition is provided to staff members that extend
themselves to support community outreach activities (See Appendix Stewardship
Article).
The governing board is also accountable for ensuring that Hospital A develops and
implements sounds programs to meet the community needs. This function is carried
out by the board Quality and Mission Committee comprised of active and retired
physicians, ministerial leader, and business community leaders. This committee
reviews all hospital community outreach activities within the system on an ongoing
basis to ensure congruence with the organizational mission and validate community
benefit.
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How does your organization demonstrate commitment to community benefit
(e.g. dedicated budget/staff, leadership involvement on CB committees etc.)?
Hospital A demonstrates its commitment to community benefit through the personal
commitment of its leaders and the engagement of an Advisory Council which serves
to ensure that the Hospital establishes and maintains programs and services that best
meet the needs of the community it serves.
Hospital A’s president is actively involved in several key civic and community
organizations. His engagement in these forums provides a venue for him to address
key issues that are affecting the community and ensure that community outreach
programs provided by Hospital A do not duplicate existing services but are designed
to augment resources utilizing the unique expertise of its leaders and staff. This
active engagement in community organizations was instrumental in the development
and implementation of the Hope Clinic (described in the Community Benefit Program
Section).
Hospital A’s Hospital Advisory Board (HAC) consists of representatives from the
Hospital medical staff, senior management team, community leaders, and
community-based agencies serving vulnerable populations. The council serves as an
informal mechanism to ensure that the Hospital engages in activities that benefit the
community. The HAC accomplishes its role by:
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Interpreting community health needs assessment information in the context of
Hospital A’s role in utilizing its resources to meet those needs;
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Ensuring that Hospital A effectively networks with community-based
organizations for the purpose of identifying healthcare needs and coordinating
outreach services.
Highlight a community benefit program that you would consider "best of class":
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What need does your program address?
The 2006 American County Survey estimates that 12.8 and 16.4 families and
individuals live below the poverty level within the county. An estimated 12-13% of
the county residents are uninsured. The uninsured are more likely to avoid or delay
needed health care due to limited access and seek care through the emergency
department. Uninsured patients often present to health care facilities with a high
acuity level and require hospitalization for conditions that may have been managed in
a less costly setting if treatment were sought early.
According to the State Department of Health, this county currently ranks last in the
State for heart disease deaths, total deaths, unintentional injury deaths and suicides
per 1,000. In contrast, the county ranks high in licensed physicians and hospital beds
per 1,000 people. The combination of these factors indicates that there are health care
access issues within the county.
The Hope Clinic provides non-emergent chronic medical and pharmaceutical
resources to uninsured qualified residents of the county using a volunteer professional
staff. The primary patient populations seeking care within the clinic have chronic
conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and hypertension. Clinic services are targeted
towards adults without health insurance to ensure they have access to primary health
care, medications to treat non-emergent/chronic conditions, and health promotion
information.
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What is the process your organization used to determine community need for
this program?
The need for the Hope Clinic was determined through a 2002 Survey commissioned
by the County area Community Foundation. The survey demonstrated that county
residents believed the county had excellent medical facilities and physicians but that
many people could not access them because they did not have health insurance.
Hospital A’s medical and administrative leaders along with community leaders began
discussing the idea of creating a free clinic to improve access to preventative health
care services for at risk populations within the county. Enhancing access to primary
care services was determined to be beneficial to both the citizens of the community
and local provider, Hospital A.
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Who is the target population?
The target population for the clinic includes only adult residents of the county over
the age of 18 that have no health insurance coverage, and whose household income
falls below the established threshold.
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Who are your collaborative partners for this program?
The clinic has an Executive Director who monitors the facility operations to ensure
adherence to established operating procedures. There are several community partners
that work in conjunction with the Clinic Executive Director. These include:
Medical Staff: Area physicians volunteer their time in the clinic and serve as the
primary medical staff.
Pharmacists: Pharmacists from Hospital A along with other area pharmacists
donate their time to staff the clinic pharmacy.
Hospital A: Covers utility expenses and building rent and encourages facility
nurses to volunteer within the clinic.
[County] Area Community Foundation: Serves as the philanthropic arm of the
Clinic soliciting funding and in-kind services to help sustain the clinic.
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What are the unique aspects of your program?
The unique aspects of the Hope Clinic primarily focus on the collaborative
partnership between Hospital A, its clinical staff, area physicians, and civic leaders to
augment available medical resources to meet the needs of an underserved population
within the county. This alliance has provided access and needed medications to
citizens to aid them in managing their disease state.
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What are the measurable outcomes of this program to date?
In the 22 months since its inception 2,242 patients have been seen, 7,927 new
prescriptions, and 5,598 prescription refills have been filled. The response from the
provider community has been astounding. Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Nurses,
Laboratory Technicians, Pharmacists, Pharmacy Technicians, Clerical Staff, and
Clergymen have donated their time and talents valued in excess of $212,000. In
addition, Hospital A’s secured $2 million in donated medications.
Preliminary data reflects a decline in the number of uninsured patients presenting to
Hospital A with non-emergent complaints.
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What is your overall strategy for sustainability?
Several initiates have been launched to provide funding streams for the Clinic
including fundraising events, local, state, and national grant funding, and legislative
support to facilitate access to federal funding. Matching funds up to a predetermined
level have been secured to augment dollars raised through fundraising events.
Alliances have also been forged with pharmaceutical companies to provide needed
medications and facilitate access to indigent drug programs.
Describe your overall community benefit reporting/communications strategy:
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How do you report your community benefit?
The methods employed by Hospital A to report its community benefit are designed to
provide appropriate information to all its key stakeholders. Hospital A’s stakeholders
include employees, medical staff, governing board, suppliers/business partners, and
the community. The following methods are used to inform its stakeholders:
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Hospital Newsletter: Articles are included in the monthly newsletter highlighting
community outreach initiatives to inform and encourage employees to engage in
the activities.
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System Newsletter: Articles are included periodically in the weekly system
newsletter to highlight facility specific and system community outreach activities
to inform and encourage employees throughout the system engage in the
identified initiatives. This newsletter is available to employees via the system
intranet.
Stewardship (Foundation Journal): Stewardship is a publication produced by the
system foundation office. This publication is distributed to community partners,
past, current and future donors. Articles highlighting community outreach
activities are featured in this journal.
Local Newspaper: The local Newspaper is used to broadly disseminate Hospital
A’s community outreach activities.
Hospital and System level Management/Leadership Meetings: Community
outreach initiatives are reviewed monthly at Hospital and system level leadership
meetings.
What are the objectives of your community benefit communications strategy?
Hospital A’s community benefit communication strategy aims to inform internal and
external stakeholders about Hospital A’s commitment to extend its ministry of
healthcare to the citizens within the surrounding county. The primary objectives
include:
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Inform the community about available Hospital services and how to access those
services.
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Inform government/civic leaders of the how the hospital is meeting its mission to
provide charitable services to the community.
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Recruit community partners to aid in addressing preventable health care problems
and access issues.
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Reinforce the Hospital’s image with its employees, physician partners,
community and media by demonstrating its ongoing commitment to serve the
community.
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Who are your target audiences for "telling your community benefit story?"
The primary audiences for the hospital’s community benefit story include both
internal and external stakeholders. The internal stakeholders are the hospital’s
employees, governing board members, and physician partners. The external
audiences include: patients, hospital advisory board members, local churches, other
health care providers, civic leaders, donors, media, elected officials, policy makers,
business partners, and the community at large.
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What are some of the unique strategies used to reach each of these target
audiences, including vulnerable populations?
The Hospital uses several mechanisms to reach its target audiences. These include
community billboards, public service announcements, existing local media, and area
churches.
Utilizing the church as a medium to carry Hospital A’s message has proven to be a
effective method of reaching vulnerable populations. The church is the refuge that
people in need often seek for help. Providing information to the church through
direct communication to the local pastors by the Hospital A’s president and nurses
within the congregational nurse program enables the Hospital to extend its message to
a larger number of individuals.
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What are your key messages about community benefit?
Hospital A’s key messages about community benefits are:
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The Hospital is a valuable resource within the community and provides services
beyond healthcare;
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The Hospital is a community partners that works effectively to create solutions to
improve access to health care; and
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The Hospital is committed to its ministry of serving the needs of its community.
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How do you know your communications strategy is working...e.g.. what
evaluation tools do you have in place to measure the effectiveness of your
efforts?
Hospital A has been successful in raising the level of awareness of its employees in
the types of outreach activities as evidenced by an increased level of engagement of
its employees in those activities. In addition, the community awareness strategy has
enhanced area civic and governmental leaders perception of Hospital A’s stewardship
and working relationship. This improved relationship enabled the Hospital to achieve
support in its efforts to obtain tax exempt status.
APPENDIX
ARTICLES HIGHLIGHTING HOSPITAL A’s
COMMUNITY OUTREACH PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITY